Finally, the Warriors need Durant
The great Shakespearean villain Iago was scheming to bring down Othello when uttering the famous line:
“But he that filches from me my good name, robs me of that which not enriches him, And makes me poor indeed.”
Hasn't that been our mantra in Oklahoma since July 4? Not just our mantra. Much of the entire NBA’s.
The Warriors added Kevin Durant. Not because they so much needed Durant — Golden State won a leaguerecord 73 games last season — but because they needed Durant not to play for the Thunder. Or the Spurs. Or the Celtics. Or the Clippers. Or the Wizards. Teams that all would look rather ferocious if No. 35 wore their threads.
So the Warriors robbed the Thunder of Durant, a roster change that crippled OKC much more than it lifted Golden State.
“Othello” ended tragically, of course. Othello, Iago, Desdemona, Roderigo, Emilia all ended up dead or headed that way. Cassio survived a severe wound.
That’s the best we hoped for here in Oklahoma City. That somehow the Warriors could join us in our misery this season.
It’s an interesting plot. And rock solid.
Until now. The NBA Finals open Thursday in Oakland, and Golden State is a big favorite because the Warriors indeed have been enriched by Durant.
This series, this Part III of what is becoming an NBA staple, Golden State-Cleveland in the Finals, is why Golden State needed Durant. The Warriors, a great and glorious team a year ago, lost in seven games because LeBron James was better. Truth is, the Warriors might have lost to Cleveland the year before that, had LeBron’s sidekicks, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, not been sidelined.
So yes, the Warriors signing Durant was a strategic blow that wiped out a Golden State peer and smoothed the road to the Finals. The Warriors are 12-0 in these playoffs; wouldn’t it be grand if all our highways were so sleek? Golden State didn’t need Durant to vanquish the Spurs, Jazz or Blazers.
But signing Durant fortified Golden State these Finals. Last June, Harrison Barnes was part of the Warrior cast, and while Barnes is a good player, he’s no superstar. LeBron was assigned to Barnes (or Andre Igoudala) and played rover, running around wreaking havoc on the Warrior offense.
There is much speculation on how much LeBron will be assigned to Durant for this fortnight, but when he is, there will be no roving. Golden State is an unguardable team with Durant. It’s feasible the Cavs could win a series of shootouts with the Warriors, but it’s hard to imagine Cleveland winning 93-89, as it did in Game 7 a year ago.
Which is why whatever anger or resentment exists over July 4, 2016, it should not be directed at the Warriors.
Durant, sure. Durant’s competitive spirit went missing in action. If he wanted out of OKC, fine. Lots of places he could have gone. But signing on with Golden State was an indictment on his resolve. Greatness is not reached via Easy Street. Durant will get his NBA championship ring, probably in less than two weeks. But Durant’s confirmation will be a lot harder to come by.
Those standards do apply to the Warriors. The Golden State organization’s mission should be to assemble the best possible team. If circumstance and economics and timing conspire to make Durant available to the Bay, the Warrior brass had a moral duty to try to make it happen.
NBA parity is not Golden State’s problem (or Durant’s). Durant’s personal stature is not Golden State’s concern (but it is Durant’s).
The Warriors produced an historically great team, then did what they should have done. Found a way to get better. Signing Durant made the Thunder poor indeed. But it also enriched Golden State. Starting Thursday night.
Russell Westbrook dashed up the Chesapeake Energy Arena floor one night in late February, Doug McDermott trailing not far behind.
Utah seemed only to see one of them. As the Jazz sagged — the better to keep Westbrook from attacking the paint — McDermott arrived, took a pass from the Thunder point guard, let fly from 25 feet and banged home a 3-pointer.
It was a common sight that night.
McDermott’s triple in that Feb. 28 win was Oklahoma City’s 12th in as many tries, a franchise record for long-range makes without a miss to open a game. For one night, the Thunder was dynamic from deep.
But that was an outsideshooting outlier for OKC, which shot a league-worst 32.9 percent from 3-point range this season. And as the NBA Finals tip off Thursday between the Cavaliers and Warriors — two of the league’s longrange elites — it’s fair to wonder if the Thunder has a fighting chance in future playoffs if it can’t add to its perimeter punch.
Oklahoma City likely will explore shooting additions, whether via the draft, trade or free agency.
But at his season-ending news conference, general manager Sam Presti stressed the importance of his team improving internally, and that could include improvement in long-range shooting.
The best 3-point shooters in the Thunder’s rotation by percentage — Alex Abrines, Jerami Grant and McDermott — all averaged 19.5 minutes or less this season in OKC. No other team’s top three longrange shooters all averaged fewer than 20.
Fixing that isn’t as simple as playing those three players more minutes. McDermott and Abrines are limited defenders. Giving them more opportunities to shoot means designing a defense that makes up for their shortcomings.
“It takes five guys to play defense,” Presti said. “The best teams are able to keep their shooting on the floor because they have got great rim protection and they have got a good system.”
Houston led the NBA in 3-point attempts and makes this season, and the Rockets’ best long-range weapon, Ryan Anderson, is considered a defensive liability but he played 29.4 minutes per game. So is Cleveland’s best 3-point shooter, backup guard Kyle Korver, who averaged 24.5 minutes.
For the Thunder to get Abrines and McDermott on the court more — perhaps together, a look Presti liked in the playoffs — it will need a defensive scheme focused on rotations and help. It’ll need give Steven Adams or another big the opportunity to be a deterrent in the paint when a perimeter player beats his man off the dribble.
It also will require defensive attention to detail all over the floor, including from Westbrook, whose offensive brilliance often overshadows that he’s become an increasingly casual defender.
Offensively, though, Westbrook stands to benefit from increased minutes for his best shooters.
ESPN’s Zach Lowe described Westbrook in a column last month as a “spread pick-and-roll point guard in search of some spread,” a player who finds shooters and “can make almost any pass with either hand,” but lacks consistent shooting around him. Westbrook passes led to 211 3-pointers this season. By contrast, James Harden passes led to 237 3-pointers from Anderson and Trevor Ariza alone.
If the Thunder could give Westbrook more consistent help, particularly on the perimeter, he “could lead the league in assists,” McDermott said last week.
“I mean he’s already freaking good, obviously,” McDermott said. “But I think he can be even a better facilitator.”
However it finds it, it seems clear the Thunder needs more shooting.
Oklahoma City was one of only two teams in the bottom 10 of the NBA in 3-point percentage with a winning record. Neither of those won a playoff series.
Three of the four teams that reached this season’s conference finals averaged at least 12 3-point makes in the regular season. San Antonio, at 9.2 per game, was the exception. Oklahoma City hit 8.4 per game, 26th in the league.
But there are signs the Thunder could improve on those numbers even with its current roster.
OKC shot 34.1 percent from 3-point range after the trade deadline, when it acquired McDermott. That ranked 20th in the NBA. And the Thunder showed perimeter promise, with a league-high four players age 25 or younger — Abrines, Grant, McDermott and Victor Oladipo — who shot at least 36 percent from long range.